Meagan Hardy, Newly Appointed Ambassador to Hong Kong

On his way back from Aceh, where he was surveying the tsunami damage, Bill Clinton stopped into Hong Kong for a night of book signing. I was lucky enough to get a ticket! Last weekend, Matt and I were at Starbucks reading the newspaper and I noticed a teensy tiny little article in the lower right hand corner of a page in the middle of the paper that said that it had been confirmed at 6:30 the previous night that Bill Clinton would be signing books at the Kelly and Walsh Bookstore in Pacific Place. Pacific Place! That is right down the street from my house! I ran downstairs to the bookstore and bought a ticket, which the clerk informed me was the last one.

So, on Tuesday night I headed down to the bookstore to get my book signed...and there was a huge line wrapped around the mall! I wasn't really expecting that since I bought the last ticket at like 10 in the morning of the day that they started selling tickets. I thought maybe it was a small thing...but no, I waited in line for at least an hour. I was surprised because there were more Europeans and Chinese in line than there were Americans. But then, they seem to follow American politics even more closely than we do in the US. The security was NOT tight. I had to go through a metal detector, but I didn't have to check my bag. (Some people did though.) I went through the metal detector, but my purse didn't!

I was also surprised at how nervous I was while I was waiting in line. I had that anxious, butterfly feeling in my stomach. It was strange...I kept asking myself why I would be nervous, when I have met lots of famous people before. Then I realized that I have never met anyone famous before, except that time Matt and I saw Robert Redford from afar at the Sundance Ski Resort in Utah. But, I think I was more nervous to meet Clinton than I would have been to meet, say, Tom Cruise or something. But maybe not...I guess I would have to meet Tom Cruise to find out.

When I finally got into the bookstore, I caught a glimpse of Clinton. My first thought? Oh my gosh, he looks so skinny! He has really lost weight. Also, his hair was blindingly white. Other than that, it was surreal cause he looks just like he does on TV.

In my nervousness, I had given some thought to what I was going to say when I got up to Clinton. I had a number of ideas, but then I realized the line was moving so fast I wouldn't really have time to say anything. When I finally got up to him, I felt very awkward because I was in the middle of a circle of his aids, security, and bookshop staff. I felt nervous...and time felt so slow. He shook my hand, and I noticed his skin had that loose look that it gets when you have lost a lot of weight. His hair was so light, I could barely look at him. I felt sort of blinded. Then, he looked down to sign the book. I felt like a fish in a fish bowl with all of the security around me, staring...the seconds past by so slow that it felt like a lifetime. I decided I needed to fill in the gaping silence by saying something. And what did I say? WHAT DID I SAY?? In the tiniest, mousiest squeak that could possible imagine, I croaked out, "Welcome to Hong Kong!" I thought, Oh no, did that squeaky sound just come from me? Oh no! Oh no! Then Clinton looked up and gave me the strangest look. It wasn't a good look, it was more a look of confusion mixed with disgust. I am not sure if he just couldn't hear me and was deciding if he should ask what I had said, or if he was wondering why I had said it, or if he had misheard me and thought I said something mean. Well, whatever it was, the moment was over, and I walked away. I had an adrenaline rush, probably from my squeaky little comment.

I am not sure what possessed me to become the ambassador to Hong Kong...I have no idea where the comment came from. That was NOT one of the things I was planning on saying to him.

I wonder where he was staying in Hong Kong? Where did he eat? Or did he go straight on to Beijing where he had meetings the next day? It is strange to think of him in "my" city.

Another thing I thought about was the enormous responsibility it is to be president. You really are giving up your carefree, individual life. I thought of all the "classified information" he and Bush Sr. must have rattling around in their heads right now, and what a burden that must be. Because now, it seems like they can't do much...they just know all of the details of conflict across the world and they have to trust in and hope that the current president will do the right thing. Especially with the war in Iraq, it seems like it might be frustrating. But maybe that is just my spin on things, as I am highly controlling and if I had all the knowledge and no power that seems like it would be highly stressful.

Anyway, now I have his signature...guess I better read the book!



There it is...